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Yirga Cheffe, 
Ethiopia
121,109 people lived in Yirga Cheffe in 2025. It is the 5067th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 70th largest in Ethiopia.
This is the UN's built-up area, drawn from satellite pictures and census maps rather than from the city limits, and the two can be a long way apart. The rule behind it.
Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries
People · every five years · 1975 to 2050
How Yirga Cheffe grew
For every 10 people in Yirga Cheffe in 1975, there were 18.1 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 480,836 people in 2050. On the UN's projection it passes 250,000 people between 2030 and 2035.
projected (after 2025) · how sure the UN is: high moderate low
How to read this: one column every five years, 1975 to 2050; its height is the number of people. Hatched columns are the UN's projection. The thin strip beneath says how sure the UN is of each figure: the stronger the colour, the surer. A blank means the place was not on the UN's list of cities that year.
People · your family's years · 1975 to 2050
Yirga Cheffe through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Yirga Cheffe in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Ethiopia · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Yirga Cheffe is the dot in colour with a ring around it. The grey dots are the other cities of Ethiopia in 2025, 259 in all, led by Addis Ababa, each drawn with an area that matches its people. Countries next door are outlines only.
Area and built-up land · km²
How much land it covers
In 2025, Yirga Cheffe covered 13 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 1.0 km² of it. That is 8 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 3 by 3 metres.
How to read this: the outer pale square stands for all the land the city covers, and the solid square inside it for the part with buildings, roads and the like on it. All three squares share a scale, so you can compare them by eye. A hatched one is a year the UN has projected.
Of every 100 people in Ethiopia
Its share of Ethiopia
Of every 1,000 people in Ethiopia in 2025, 1 lived in Yirga Cheffe, which is 121,109 people.
How to read this: shrink Ethiopia to 1,000 people and this is what you get. The coloured squares are the ones who would live in Yirga Cheffe; the grey ones are everybody else, in other cities, in towns and out in the country.
Ranked by people · 2025
Cities of a similar size
In the world, 2025
- 4936 Boditi123,992
- 4985 Khar Bajaur Pakistan122,854
- 5014 Fujieda Japan122,203
- 5021 Phulidumar India122,053
- 5067 Yirga Cheffe121,109
- 5114 Chucko120,065
- 5136 Vihiga Kenya119,644
- 5137 Paardekraal Ext 2 South Africa119,589
- 5167 Kafr Ibrash Egypt118,945
In Ethiopia, 2025
- 4306 Leku141,486
- 4681 Areka130,386
- 4902 Basha124,959
- 4936 Boditi123,992
- 5067 Yirga Cheffe121,109
- 5114 Chucko120,065
- 5474 Irba112,673
- 6060 Karamile101,975
- 6478 Gogi95,403
How to read this: names are in order of size, the leading number being each city's rank among all 12,138 in 2025; the bars share a scale within a list. A jump in the ranks means a city under 300,000 people, which is not given a page here.
Apparatus
Sources and method
The figures for Yirga Cheffe are the UN's own, at five-year steps: an estimate for each of 1975 to 2025, then projection to 2050. Projected years are drawn hatched, and the UN publishes no range of uncertainty for a city. What a city means here, how the UN measures one, and why that number can differ from the one Yirga Cheffe publishes about itself: how the figures here are put together.
Sources: UN WUP 2025 · Natural Earth · flag-icons. Every source, its licence and how to cite it →
Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries